Sikaflex EBT for £1.75 a tube?

[Ferdinand]

Do we think this Ebay chap is on the up & up? Or too good to be true?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/dilip1719

 

Ferdinand

Edited October 19, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Stones]

Past its best before date ( which he makes clear in the description)

[Jeremy Harris]

It should be OK, as long as it's been stored in a cool and dry place. 

 

You can extend the shelf like of this a lot (as in months, maybe even years) if you stick the tubes inside a heavy duty plastic bag, chuck a silica gel sachet inside, suck as much air out as you can out and then seal the bag, either using a heat sealer, or one of those clips that are normally used to separate two pack stuff in plastic bags (I keep a few of these as they are a great way of sealing plastic bags).  The clips I'm talking about are the ones where there is a round bar  that clips tightly inside a U shaped plastic tube, sandwiching the plastic bag.  If you then put the bag of tubes in a fridge they will keep for ages, as it's the combination of humidity and warmth that allows the stuff to cure from atmospheric water vapour.

 

On a similar note, if you ever mix up too much two part resin, either epoxy or polyurethane (never tried it with polyester or vinyl ester, but suspect this trick doesn't work for them because of the need for free styrene during the cure) then you can do exactly the same -put the mixed resin in an airtight plastic bag and stick it in the fridge (if you want to use it within a few hours) or in the freezer if you want to use it in a few months.  It will go solid in the freezer, but warm it up a bit when you get it out and it will liquefy and start curing as normal, with no adverse affect on the cured properties at all (it's how aircraft structure pre-preg material, like carbon fibre, is stored and transported - it's frozen and kept cold, then warmed up to turn the impregnated resin liquid and start the cure process).

 

Mind you, you need a tolerant other half to put up with mixed up epoxy resin in the fridge or freezer..............

 

 

[bassanclan]

Am I right in thinking the white Sika goes yellow if used instead of silicone to say seal round a bath etc?

[Ferdinand]

9 hours ago, Stones said:

Past its best before date ( which he makes clear in the description)

 

Cheers.

 

So potentially a good idea if you know you will use around half of it immediately, which would save £4-5 per tube if using all of it.

 

Ferdinand

 

[Onoff]

I bought some off eBay via a link from someone on here and though the first tube I used was OK part used tubes don't seem to last, going hard in the tube. Two factors in guessing...I'm a slowcoach but also I wonder is EBT more susceptible to going off if you don't seal it up? With some silcones you can I think just let the bit in the nozzle set and change out for a new nozzle. I'm particularly diligent & I'll tape the end with insulating tape but this didn't seem to make any difference on this EBT I have.

 

Reminds me, I have a wet room kit with a use by date...

[Nickfromwales]

9 hours ago, bassanclan said:

Am I right in thinking the white Sika goes yellow if used instead of silicone to say seal round a bath etc?

Yup. Don't ever use the white for finishing.